---
kind: "section"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 3416"
title: "20"
title_heading: "Education"
number: "3416"
heading: "Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/20/3416"
units:
  - "Chapter 48 — Department of Education"
  - "Subchapter II — Establishment of the Department"
---

# §3416. Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education


There shall be in the [Department](/usc/20/3404.md?p=1) an [Office](/usc/20/3404.md?p=7) of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, to be administered by the Assistant [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2) for Career, Technical, and Adult Education appointed under [section 3412(b) of this title](/usc/20/3412.md?p=b). The Assistant [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2) shall administer such [functions](/usc/20/3404.md?p=4) affecting career, technical, and adult education as the [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2) shall delegate, and shall serve as principal adviser to the [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2) on matters affecting career, technical, and adult education. The [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2), through the Assistant [Secretary](/usc/20/3404.md?p=2), shall also provide a unified approach to rural education and rural family education through the coordination of programs within the [Department](/usc/20/3404.md?p=1) and shall work with the Federal Interagency Committee on Education to coordinate related activities and programs of other Federal [departments](/usc/20/3404.md?p=1) and agencies.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 96–88, title II, § 206, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 674; Pub. L. 113–76, div. H, title III, § 307(a), Jan. 17, 2014, 128 Stat. 399.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2014—Pub. L. 113–76 substituted, in section catchline, “Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education” for “Office of Vocational and Adult Education” and, in text, “Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education” for “Office of Vocational and Adult Education”, “Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education” for “Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education”, and “career, technical, and adult education” for “vocational and adult education” in two places.